Round 7: Day 41: Interval Plus

Buoyed by my (fairly light) cardio workout yesterday, I decided to increase the intensity of my cardio work by doing Interval Plus, from the P90X Plus series. It's been a really long time since I did this workout, and it still rocks. It's not as difficult as an Insanity workout, but it is about as intense a cardio workout as Tony Horton will provide.

Doing this workout has revealed that, despite my consistent effort to run, running is not as effective a workout as interval training. Even though my heart rate never exceeded 147 or so, I burnt a ton of calories, significantly more than I burn during a run with a higher heart rate. Following the workout, I had severe leg shake, something I've never experienced in the hour following a run. I've been tired after a run, certainly, but today, I really felt that interval training beat me up. It's a great feeling, and it told me that running diligently has actually left me slightly out of shape.

As the weather has now pretty much changed for the colder (0°C overnight, complete with frost) and the days are growing shorter, I'm not inclined to head outdoors at 6:30AM for a run. So, my routine is changing back to strictly indoor training (OK, I'm a bit of a suck, but I don't really acclimatize well to cold weather - so what am I doing in Toronto anyway? That's the subject of another story). As such, I'm intending to slowly ramp up the intensity of my cardio training, starting with the One on One series, a little P90X (love the Plyometrics!) and eventually wind up in Insanity-land again, training in a pool of my own sweat. Sure, it sounds glamourous, but I figure I'm worth it.

I had lunch with a friend today. He had a large grilled cheese sandwich with bacon; I had a salad with light vinaigrette dressing. He told me that all this "healthy stuff" might add 3 months to my life. I told him that I'm looking forward to aging with fewer health problems than the average person, and he could feel free to consume whatever pleases him. I guess that was a moment of personal revelation: live healthy, eat clean, and maximize what your genes have given you.

On to Week 7.

Round 7: Day 40: Cardio Intervals

Looking for a little more fat burning, I decided to stick with cardio this week, and selected Cardio Intervals. That was a bit of a mistake, as I think I really was looking for Super Cardio, which is more of a leg burner. Anyhow, I suppose that some movement is better than no movement, and once I put a DVD in the player, I tend to stick with it. It's been so long since I did either workout, that I figured that it's all good, regardless.

Truthfully, this workout is a bit of a lightweight, but as I've been doing so much running as my cardio component over the last few months, moving in an unfamiliar way was good to shake up my body and add a bit of variety to my routine. Normally, I don't find this workout to be particularly exerting, but the leg kicks and the moderate jumping exercises did cause my heart rate to elevate, and I did find myself a bit worn out by the end. It's obviously not the same as running, where my heart rate elevates quite high; on the other hand, it has sufficient irregular movements to keep things interesting and to hit muscle groups that aren't stressed over the course of a run.

Round 7: Day 39: Yoga

Anticipating a stressful day today, I was really happy to have started my morning with yoga. I was going to be making a pitch to a potential client this morning which could alter the very fabric of the universe itself, so I wanted to be sure to make a good impression. Being sweaty, nervous and having your breath coming in shallow, short bursts is not the best way to make a good impression. Thankfully, yoga can assist in countering those symptoms of nervousness.

It's amazing how the simple act of taking a few deep, cleansing breaths can affect your body. Yoga is perfect for helping you to gain control over your mind and your body. Deep breathing, staying in the moment, calming the mind and relaxing the body are what I practised this morning. Staying in the moment and calming my mind were the most difficult, as my mind was constantly distracted by the impending meeting. Nevertheless, I was still able to stretch out my body, so I wouldn't have that clenched jaw and shoulder look at my meeting, and I was able to enter the meeting standing tall and open-chested, breathing deeply, composed and focussed. Thanks to yoga.

Namaste.

Round 7: Day 38: 100/30/20

For some unknown psychological reason, I've been ducking out of doing intensive weightlifting routines lately, in favour of pursuing cardio workouts. Today, I followed the same routine. I awoke feeling that I should be doing Just Arms or Diamond Delts, but my heart just wasn't in it. My mind gave up before my body had the chance to start. I didn't want to skip working out (actually, I did, but chose not to) so I thought that a reasonable compromise might be to engage in an upper, middle and lower workout. With that in mind, I selected 100 (skipping) - 30 (abdominal repetitions) - 20 (pushups).

In my heart, I know that I should be engaging in more intensive resistance workouts; for now, I'll be satisfied with the fact that I'm just working out at all. It seems as though I'm going through some sort of phase where motivation is really an issue. Lacking motivation, I'm really rather pleased that I can just get some sort of workout in at all. Over time, this will probably pass, and I'll be hitting the workouts with a greater sense of aggression.

Today's workout, while somewhat moderate compared to others I've done (and I've noticed by glancing at the blog sidebar that I've done quite a lot of different workouts) is still sufficient to raise the heart rate and cause me to break a sweat. During the skipping portions, I engage in rapid jumping jacks, which, after a couple of sets, nicely loosened up my shoulders. I wasn't sore from yesterday's Iso Abs workout, so I was able to do the 30 reps of the various abdominal exercises. Some are more difficult than others, and they don't move particularly quickly, so it wasn't long before I felt a pretty good ab burn. Pushups (my specialty!) are straightforward for me, and 20 of any type aren't onerous, so that section of the workout actually felt like a bit of a break. Once you've done Tony's 30-15 workout, 20 pushups feel like a warmup.

Overall, a good workout, in spite of a lack of motivation. I'll work on my attitude more, and try harder to get back into more intensive workouts.

Round 7: Day 37: Iso Abs

Time for another review of a never-been-tried DVD (for me): Iso Abs, part of the One on One series by Tony Horton. I was heading for an upper body workout today, but didn't really feel like it. Motivation is a funny thing. If I only worked out when I'm motivated, I'd probably end up working out twice a month. The key is to work out even when you don't feel like it. As Tony points out in the DVD, if you're upper body is sore, work on the lower body. If your lower body is sore, work on the upper body. If both your upper body and lower body are sore, work on the middle. There's always something which can occupy your attention.

Well, my body wasn't particularly sore this morning, but my mind wasn't particularly willing. So, I put Iso Abs into the DVD player and hit 'play'. This is an interesting collection of moves, ten in all, twelve reps per move. The entire sequence of ten moves is done twice over the course of the workout, for a total of twenty, taking approximately 40 minutes of gut wrenching time.

Unlike Ab Ripper X (from P90X), which moves at a fast pace, each move in this workout is done rather slowly, occasionally holding isometric postures, which can be excruciating. At times, I had to rest my legs on the floor to take a break for a rep or two for recovery purposes, then jumped back into the fun. The good thing about the speed of the movements (or lack thereof) is that you have an opportunity to focus on your breath and your form. As Tony suggests, if you take the emotion out of your face and breathe deeply, you can concentrate on putting the energy and effort where it's required, namely, in your abs. It's easier said than done.

This was an excellent ab workout which moved much faster (in terms of elapsed time) than I thought it would. A 40-minute ab workout seemed daunting, but the time actually passed rather quickly. It's definitely a keeper.

Round 7: Day 36: Run

It was such a spectacular, sunny day in Toronto that I decided to head outside for a run. As the weather is really changeable here now, it's a good idea to spend time outside while you still can. At 11:00AM, I headed out in 17°C sunshine for a nice run on the intermediate length circuit.

My running has steadily been improving over the past number of months, but the last few times out, I haven't been impressed with my time. My heart rate is elevated to a good level, but I don't seem to be matching the time I used to post. Such was the case today. I felt good throughout the run, but didn't post a great time. Actually, I was about 90 seconds slower than I'd like to have been. I'm not going to get worked up about my timing. After all, I'm not about to enter a competition, nor am I some sort of elite athlete. Realizing that I'm just trying to do my best and forget the rest, I'll be satisfied that I laced up my shoes and headed out, sort of the asphalt equivalent of hitting the "play" button on the DVD player.

This could very well be the last run of the year for me. At least it was a pleasant day.

Round 7: Day 33: Mason's Choice

I dug into my DVD collection today to come up with a cardio routine, and out popped Mason's Choice, also known as Cardio Confusion, from Tony Horton's One on One series.

The workout consists of a series of cardio moves picked at random out of a hat by director Mason Bendewald, then such move is performed by Tony Horton. I wouldn't exactly say that hilarity ensues, but there are light moments, typical of a One on One workout. It's rough, it's raw, it's personal (in a good way).

The moves come from a variety of sources: Power90, P90X, Master Series, and One on One. There were some moves I've never seen before and some I had done previously. Some moves felt awkward, like the Kenpo exercises, but that's probably because my body has never really taken well to kicks and punches. I recall it took weeks before I started feeling comfortable with some of the Kenpo kick and punch combinations and, if I don't do the DVD on a regular basis, it still feels strange when I finally get back to it. Kenpo is just not a particularly natural thing for me. On the other hand, many of the individual exercises were great and overall, this is a workout which, if you put in a strong effort, will bring reward.

One thing I liked about this routine is that there is no equipment involved. At one point, Tony steps outside on the deck to jump some rope, but I substituted jumping jacks for skipping, which successfully maintained an elevated heart rate. At another time, Tony used a medicine ball for press jacks, but I think that exercise can still be effective without carrying an additional 4 lb weight.

Overall, a very pleasant workout experience.